System for conveying and inspecting soap



u y 927 H. c. KNOWLES SYSTEM FOR CONVEYING AND INSPECTING SOAP Filed March 17, 1.925 2 Sheets-Sheet l- ATTGF/VZFYS,

1,6 ,2 July 1927' H. c. KNOWLES 36 35 SYSTEM FOR CONVEYING AND INSPECTING SOAP Filed March 1?, 1925 2 Shoots-Sheet z May W 5y WMQ Patented July 19, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

mm 0. KNOWLES, OI CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASBIGNOB To run P3001313 AND emu: conm, OI CINCINNATI, OHIO, A. CORPORATION OI OHIO.

m 103 CONVEYING AND INSPIUHJI'G soar.

Application filed larch 17, I985. Serial Io. 16,887.

My invention relates in general to systems for conveying and inspecting soap and in particular to a system for conveying bars of stamped soap to a plurality of wrappin machines, and preceding the discharge 0 the bars into the wrapping machines revealing all sides of the bars for inspection from a predetermined position.

It is the object of my invention to convey on a belt a plurality of stamped bars of soap through a divertin'g device operated in timed relation to the rate of discharge of the bars onto the belt which shall separate the bars from the single belt into a pluralit of separate lines of bars, each line of whic shall be conveyed into a different wrapping machine. It is further my object to cause the bars to be turned over during the time when they are separated in difierent lines so that by the disposal of a mirror an operator may see all sides of each bar passing from the single belt to all of the wrapping machines.

In the art it is customary to feed bars of soap cut to a predetermined size and shape, to a soap press which stamps a trade-mark or a descriptive mark on each one of the bars. It is then customary to convey the stamped bars of soap as they are discharged from the press to a wra ging machine. It is old to convey starn are of soap to a predetermined location where an operator ma pick u a required number of bars an invert t em for inspection and place them on a belt discharging into a wrapping machine. In this manner it is also old to supply b hand more than one wrapping machine m the conveyor belt from a soap press. It is also old to convey the entire output of a soap pres from the press to wrapping machine. My novel system, however, consists in convey' stamped bars of soap from e. si le press lt into se arated lines on other be ts each line of whic feeds onto a belt discharging into a wrapping machine without manual means being employed and in n a mirror with relation to an inverting evice, so that, to an operator at a predetermined point, each bar in the several lines is revealed on all sides so that any defective bars may be picked out. The system enables the manufacturer to dispense with much labor and to .give the bars of soap much closer inspection than would otherwise be po-ible. The system results therefore both in economy of packing costs and in the production of 'more uniformly perfect bars.

With the machines now on the market soap presses may be operated at a much 00 hig er rate than soap wrapping machines so that to secure the maximum output of both presses and wrapping machines, it is necessary to supply more than one wrapping machine for each press. In the present method of making soap, it is not possible to avoid occasionally stamping a. deflective bar so that it is necessa to have 0 rators to inspect the bars coming from t e soap resses and to pick out all the defective ars.

With my system it is now ssible to mechanically transfer the outp t from a soap prem discharging bars onto a belt at a high rate of speed to a plurality of wrapplng machines and to turn the bars in transit so that an operator may see all sides of each bar. Thus a great deal of labor can be saved.

In a diagrammatic plan a conveyor mechanism is shown in Figure 1, which embodies my invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of my diverting mechanism.

Figure 8 is a plan view of a section of a cross belt with turn over rails in lace.

Figure 4 is a side elevation of t 0 plan view shown in Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a modified form of layout to that shown in Figure 1.

Figure 6 is an elevation of the turnover mechanism shown in Figure 5.

I have indicated at 1 a die box discharging stam fig bars of soap onto the conveyor be t 2. stam bars pass to the side of the belt opposite e die box and travel endways down the belt in-the direction of the arrows. Generally indicated at 3 is shown my preferred form of diverter. This consists of guide rails 4 of the ap roximate thickness of the bars secured at eir outlet end by a late 5 which holds the rails in into position. At the inlet end an armfiretainstheguiderails. Thisarmis pivoted at 7 to a which is supported ystandardsQexten up fromatable 9 built up underneath the belt. The outer endofthearmisadjustabl mountedina rod 10 the movement of w 'ch swings the dischameendofthediverhngguidarails alternatel from one side of the belt to the other. T e sweep of the diverter is indicated by the dotted lines. The motion for operating the diverter may be supplied from any convenient source but for convenience I have found that the best method of operatin it in the re uired timed relation to the rate discharge irom the soap press, is as shown where the rod is pivoted in a slot 11 in a lever 12, which is mounted with its fulcrum 13 in a bracket 14 supported by the sides of the press. The other arm of the lever has a roller 15 journaled at its end and this roller moves in the cam 16 of the soap press.

With this type of diverting mechanism it will be obvious that with each revolution of the press and the consequent discharge of stamped bars, the bars will be guided to different channels on the conveyor belt 2. The unique feature of the process of diverting the bars is that the power required is contributed primarily from the conveyor belt on which the bars are moving, and the movement of the bars is diagonally across the belt to the desired channel. Any attempt to move the bars of soa at right angles to the movement of the be t would result in the bars falling over on their faces and with one bar on its face in the guard rails the entire conveyor would become blocked up. It is an essential feature of my stem therefore that the bars are diverte into separate channels without force bein applied to move the bars into channels 0t er than guides which exert no initial force on the bars and serve only to change the direction of the bars on the belt. One end of the endless belt 2 passes about a ulley 17 adjacent the soap press and the 03181 end passes about a pulley 18 journaled in standards 19 which are fastened to the floor. I have shown a set of bevel gears 20 which drive the shaft 21 of the pulley 18 which is the tight pulley which moves the endless conveyor belt 2.

In the arrangement shown in Fig. 1, under the belt 2 and at a desired angle is a cross belt 22 which is journaled in standards fastened to the floor. I have shown the drive shaft 23 as operating the driving pulley 24 of this cross belt, but it should be understood that any other suitable driving mechanism will sufiice, the driving mechanism forming no part of my invention. At the discharge end of the crow belt 22, the belt is supported by another loose pulley 25 which is journaled in standards carried by the floor. Underneath the upper cross belt two loose ulleys 26 are journaled in the same stan ards which support the pulley 25. These pulleys are disposed at an an le to the pulley 25, and they retain cross ts 27 which convey the two lines of bars of soap to the wrapping machines, which are not shown as they form no part of my novel process.

.after the bars are diverted and they are curved as shown at 29 to conform with the angle at which the cross belt 22 is disposed with relation to the belt 2. These guide rails guide the bars 29 of soap down the belt in the direction of the arrows and at a desired position which is determined by the most convenient position for the operator 30 or inspector, the rails are bent so that bars passing along the belt are turned with their faces toward the belt in the position shown at 30. One type of mechanism for accomplishing this'is as shown in the Figures 3 and 4. The guide rails 31 of each line on the side nearest the operator are bent from a position aligned with one of the side faces of the bars to a plane aligned with that of the moving belt, and the rails 32 on the far side of each line are bent to keep in interspaced alignment with the first mentioned rails to support the faces of the bars and to guide them onto the belt with their faces flush with the belt. In position in the turn-over device the bars passing through the belt rails may be guided clear of the belt and pushed from the rear by the line of bars following them which are still on the belt.

A mirror 33 disposed on the far side of the belt from the inspector reveals the faces of the bars on the opposite side so that by glancing down at the bars after they have been turned over, all sides of each bar will have been visible and any defective bars may be picked out. After passing the inspector the bars travel down to the end of the belt where the curved rails 32 guide them around the corners onto the respective belts which convey them to the wrapping machines.

In the layout diagrammatically shown in Figure 5 instead of the cross belt 22 individual line belts 34 are disposed in alignment with the conveyor belt 2 from the press. These belts may be driven with pulleys at a slower rate of s (1 than the belt 2 asit will be readily understood that they will only be required to convey part of the bars which are carried on the belt 2. A convenient arrangement of these belts is as shown where they move in a slightly lower plane than the belt 2 so that the turnover rail 35 which turns the bars from the belt 2 onto the belts 34 has tilted sides which guide them die 0- nally onto the belts 34 and the slight all causes the bars to fall face downward'on these several belts. In this layout the mirror is shown in the same relative position to the turnover mechanism and the operator so that the same useful purposes are accom- Ii lished as in the layout shown in Figure 1,

he essential difference in the two conveyor s stems is that in the latter the turnin of t e cakes is accomplished at the point w ere the difference in planes of the conveyor belt from the press and the belt carrying the divided lines is aided by the fall from the one belt to the others.

Different arrangements of belts will readily occur to those skilled in the art, and it will be readily seen that the diverting mech' anism will divide the lines of soap into as many lines as desired, consequently the provision of additional cross or line belts will permit the division of the bars into three or four lines each one of which may be conveyed to a separate Wrapping machine.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A conveyor system for conveying bars of stamped soap from a soap press to a plurality of wrapping machines comprising a movable endless belt adapted to receive the stamped bars from the press and a diverting device to separate the bars on the endless belt into a plurality of lines of bars on the belt and means of conveying each of the lines of bars to a wrapping machine and a mirror adapted to reflect the image of the opposite faces of the bars in the plurality of lines from one side of the belt.

2. A conveyor system for conveying bars of stamped soap from a soap press to a plurality of wrapping machines comprising a movable endless conveyor belt adapted to receive the stamped bars from the press with means disposed over the conveyor belt for separating the bars on the belt into a plurality of lines, said means operating in timed relation to the rate of discharge of the stamped bars on to the belt whereby each of the lines of bars shall contain an equal number of bars, and guide rails to retain the bars longitudinally of the belt in lengthways position, and a triangular shaped member with a pointed edge extending between the lines of bars to turn sideways the bars on the lines on other conveyor belts disposed in a lower moving plane than the first mentioned belt.

3. A conveyor system for conveying bars of stamped soap from a soap press to a plurality of wrapping machines comprising a movable endless conveyor belt adapted to receive the stamped bars from the press with means disposed over the conveyor belt for separating the bars on the belt into a plurality of lines, said means operating in timed relation to the rate of discharge of the stamped bars onto the belt whereby each of the lines of bars shall contain an equal number of bars, and guide rails to retain the bars longitudinally of the belt in lengthways position, and to guide the lines onto other conveyor belts disposed in a lower plane at angles to the first mentioned belt, and means for mechanically inverting each of the bars in the plurality of lines and a mirror disposed with relation to the mechanically inverting means so as to reveal for inspection all unexposed sides of each of the bars to one predetermined position.

HARVEY C. KNOWLES. 

